Five and Eight
by Lisa Moulton
Summary: (Rated PG for a more-or-less intense scene) Doctor 8 passes out and Lisa has to bring him somewhere safe: To Alnilam, her home planet. Little does she know she's gonna get a visit by someone else very close to her her hearts. (Unfinished, but please R&R!)
1. Part One

**THIS STORY IS MARY SUE! IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT!  
Also, I don't know when I'll be continuing this story. I'm waiting on the muse to bite me with a good idea.**

**Disclaimer: Everything Doctor Who related is copyrighted to the BBC. Everything else is mine, up to and including Alien Lisa, her house, and the layout of how Alnilam looks.**

_Part One _

Lisa had to take the Doctor to Alnilam, because it was the only place she could be certain of that was safe. Nothing could harm them there. Nothing would dare. Alnilam was protected by the magic of the unicorns.

The Doctor had been overcome by something that had caused him enough pain to pass out. He and Lisa were alone, so she had to bring him somewhere safe, and the only place she could think of was her home planet. It was a good thing that she could fly the TARDIS. She couldn't fly it _well_, but she could get it to a planet. Whether it's the planet they were aiming for is a different matter.

So Lisa brought the Doctor to Alnilam and put him in one of the many bedrooms in her house in the small meadow. As of this moment, he was asleep, but it was a troubled sleep. He was tossing and turning and groaning. It was worse if Lisa wasn't there with him. Even sleeping, he knew when she was at his side. It was part of their link.

Lisa knew he was still in pain, because she could feel it as well. That, also, was part of the link.

When Lisa falls in love with someone and they share the feelings, they become linked. They are able to feel each other's pain and sense what the other is feeling. If one were to die (Lisa is immortal and, therefore, cannot die), the feathers on Lisa's normally yellow-gold wings would turn blue, then black, then, one by one, the feathers would fall off and disintegrate when they hit the ground as death was taking its toll. Her wings would be completely black when that person died. She would also feel as if she were dying. It was the only part of the link she didn't like, even though sometimes she could lock some of it out.

Now, Lisa was sitting at the Doctor's side, holding his hand and wiping his face with a cool cloth as he slept. He had a terribly high fever. Lisa could give him something for it, but he had to be conscious to take it. She had loosened his shirt and taken off his scarf so he would be more comfortable.

Suddenly, Lisa heard the familiar wheezing, groaning sound of a TARDIS. She stood and went to the window and saw a blue blob materialize next to the Doctor's TARDIS. It took shape and that's when Lisa's jaw dropped. It was a police box, identical to the Doctor's TARDIS.

As she watched, the door opened and out stumbled a tall, attractive young man in a cricketing outfit and tan coat. There was a stick of celery on the lapel.

Lisa almost passed out herself, because that man there was none other than Doctor Number Five, three regenerations _before _the Doctor she was with now, Number Eight.


	2. Part Two

**Disclaimer: Usual disclaimers apply. The Doctors aren't mine. They belong to the BBC. Alien Lisa is mine. (SPECIAL NOTE: If you don't like stories in which the author writes herself in [even though Alien Lisa is only the me I want to be], please don't read. You have been warned.) **

_Part Two _

It took her a nanosecond to realize that he was paler than usual. He looked like he was in pain. She couldn't feel what he felt because it had been thirteen years since she had been linked to him. He had regenerated as a result of spectrox toxaemia and the link had grown weaker until his regeneration from a probe in the hearts brought back the old feelings that had caused them to be linked in the first place.

Doctor Five looked at Doctor Eight's TARDIS with an expression of confusion on his face, then collapsed, unconscious. Lisa was at his side to catch him before he hit the ground.

She took him inside and put him in the room next to Doctor Eight, unpinning the celery and putting it on the night table. He was frighteningly pale and was also running a fever, just like Doctor Eight.

That gave her an idea. Perhaps something happened to Doctor Five to cause something to happen to the Doctor Eight. It's happened before: When each of the Doctor's previous selves were being taken out of time, the Doctor (then the Fifth) almost faded away because it was endangering his very existence.

Well, she couldn't get any answers when he was unconscious. She'd have to ask after he woke up.

***

When Doctor Five awoke, the first sense was major disorientation. He didn't know where he was. He kept his eyes shut and reviewed, in his mind, what had happened. The last thing he remembered was walking out of the TARDIS, and then blackness. The only conclusion he could come to was that he had passed out, but how did he end up in a bed, then?

Finally, he opened his eyes. He was in a bedroom. It was dark, the only light coming from a digital clock – it was 3:10AM – and a sliver of moonlight coming from under the window curtains.

He had to get up to see where he was, but when he tried, he was hit with intense dizziness. He laid still and shut his eyes, then he tried again, this time more slowly. He was still dizzy, but if he moved little by little, it wasn't so bad.

Using the wall for support, he made his way over to the window and pulled back the curtains. There was multicolored vegetation, his TARDIS, a forest in the distance, his TARDIS, a…wait a moment. His TARDIS…twice?

Rubbing his eyes, he looked again. Yes, there was his TARDIS standing on the grass, but there it was again to the right. Was he seeing double? No, they were too far apart to be one machine.

At least he now knew what planet he was on. There was only one planet in the universe that had multicolored vegetation: Alnilam.

"Lisa…" he whispered.

Now he remembered. Lisa had always told him that, if he was ever in trouble, he could come straight to Alnilam to get her help. The TARDIS would know when to find her. He didn't know how, but he trusted both her and the TARDIS.

Doctor Five stumbled to the door. He looked up and down the corridors, trying to remember which way to go. There was light down the right side, so he headed that way. Halfway down the corridor, the pain and dizziness came back full force and he started whimpering. When he was almost to the end, he began calling weakly for Lisa, hoping with both his hearts she'd come to him before he passed out again.

He felt himself blacking out and he had started to sink to the floor when strong arms caught him. He opened his eyes to see Lisa standing there holding him. Relief washed over him and he pulled her into a hug.

"It's okay, Doctor," she said. "Come on, lay down."

She led him to the couch and he lay down. He whispered, "Lisa…is…is there… another…me…here?"

Lisa had been stroking his hair, but she faltered after he asked the question. Before she could answer, a voice came from the corridor: "Lisa?"

She looked up, then stood and disappeared from his field of view.

"Are you okay?" he heard her ask.

"Weak," said the voice that had spoken earlier. It was a man's voice, sounding weary and strained.

"I know. Relax. Sit down."

Lisa came back into view helping a tall man in a green coat sit down. He had long brown hair and blue eyes. Eyes that were, at the moment, filled with pain.

Sheer curiosity gave Doctor Five the strength to sit up a little. Lisa must have noticed the look on his face, because she said, "Doctor Number Five, I'd like you to meet Doctor Number Eight."

Neither Doctor had the strength to reply to that. Doctor Eight leaned his elbow on the arm of the chair, and rubbed his forehead with his fingers. He looked exactly how Doctor Five felt.

Lisa had walked off for a moment and came back carrying a small vial of blue liquid. She handed it to Doctor Eight. "Drink this. It'll help with the pain and fever." He took it and downed the stuff.

"What…about me?" Doctor Five asked.

She pulled out another vial and handed it to him. Eagerly, he drank the whole thing. It tasted quite pleasant, like blueberries. Almost immediately, the pain and dizziness diminished to somewhere within tolerable levels. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Now, Doctor," Lisa said, looking directly at Doctor Five but rubbing Doctor Eight's back. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Doctor Five watched her. _She must be his, he thought. He wasn't thinking of her as a piece of property. Both of them had always referred to each other as "mine". They belonged to each other. Or, rather, the Lisa he had left behind belonged to him, and he to her, and this Lisa belonged to his future – his eighth – self._

Finally, he spoke. "We were on a planet…you, me, Tegan, Turlough…and we got captured. I was shot with some sort of energy beam. I blacked out and, when I came to, you three were gone. I couldn't contact you telepathically. Then I started getting cold. I went looking for you and was by the TARDIS when I felt weak and dizzy. I had to find help, so I went into the TARDIS and set her to find you. I must have passed out, because I found myself on the floor after the TARDIS had landed. I left, saw his TARDIS…" He pointed at Doctor Eight. "Passed out and woke up here."

Lisa thought a moment, then nodded. "That's about what happened. Right?" She looked to Doctor Eight.

He nodded as well. "I felt dizzy and weak earlier today and passed out. Lisa had to bring me here." He clasped her hand tightly.

Doctor Five knew how he felt. He'd give anything to have Lisa at his side right now, but his Lisa was millions of miles away. Although, he knew deep in his hearts this Lisa would act the same way his did. She'd take care of him. She would have to, because if something happened to him, Doctor Eight would never live. That was the trouble with future selves: You don't officially know they exist until you meet them.

He also knew that this Lisa couldn't be at his side always. With two of him to take care of, she was going to have her hands full. That hurt worse than his experience today, but he knew Lisa would be there for him as much as she could.


	3. Part Three

**Disclaimer: The two Doctors belong to the BBC (believe me, I wish they were mine). Alien Lisa, Medicus, etc. belong to me. (SPECIAL NOTE: If you don't like stories in which the author writes herself in [even though Alien Lisa is only the me I want to be], please don't read. You have been warned.) **

_Part Three _

"What I don't understand," Lisa said, "is why I'm not getting visits from the ones in between you," she looked toward Doctor Five, "and you," she looked at Doctor Eight.

"Maybe it only works on us because you love us," suggested Doctor Five.

"Or," Doctor Eight began, then paused and grimaced in pain. It subsided after a moment. "Or…or it was…specially made…to affect a f…a future…i-incarnation of…of…" He couldn't continue. The pain in his body had welled up even more.

Lisa could see and sense his pain. Obviously the medication wasn't working as well on him. She knelt at his side. Even Doctor Five could see him shaking. Lisa helped him stand and led him down the corridor.

"I'll be right back," she called, then she said to Doctor Eight soothingly, "It'll be all right. Go back to sleep."

When she came back, Doctor Five finally saw how his suffering affected his Lisa. She was shaking and the tips of her wings were quivering. Only the tremors in her body weren't that noticeable unless you _really_ looked at her. The only things you could really see trembling were her wings.

"Lisa?" he asked.

She looked at him. Her eyes, usually burning with life, were now dull. Even her hair had lost its usual healthy shine. When she spoke, she sounded drained. "Whatever it is, it's stronger than Medicus's medicines. My guess is that we have to get it out of you to help him. Which means we may have to travel to where you were. It's affecting him like a virus. Maybe there's an antidote."

"Lisa, I'm sorry."

She blinked. "For what?"

"Everything I put you through when I'm hurt."

To his surprise, Lisa chuckled. "Doctor, don't be. I'm not. I enjoy being linked to you. If I didn't, it wouldn't happen. I love you. Feeling your pain is part of that."

"His pain."

"Whatever. Your Lisa would say the same thing. I know because I _was her. And, Doctor, I still love you. You may have been gone for…well, never mind, it doesn't matter. I _do_ still love you, and I'm going to help you."_

***

"Lisa?"

When she heard Doctor Eight call her, Lisa made her way to his bedroom. She had helped Doctor Five to his room earlier so he could rest and had been sitting in her living room when she heard him calling.

"Lisa?"

"I'm here."

Doctor Eight was lying in bed, still fully dressed (his clothes were very wrinkled), looking pale and feverish. Even though he was weak, he did smile when Lisa walked in.

"Hey," she said, sitting down beside him and adjusting the covers.

He placed his hands on her arms as she pulled the blanket up. "Where is he?"

Lisa dropped her wings. "Asleep. Like you should be."

"I can't," he said. "I hurt."

She nodded. "I know, I know. Just relax. You have to get better so we can help Doctor Five."

"H…how?"

Lisa had to shrug. "I don't know yet. But I'll try to figure it out."

All of a sudden, Lisa felt as if something were blocking her lungs. She wondered what was causing it, but got her answer when Doctor Eight said, "Lisa…I…I can't breathe… very well." He was gasping, trying to get air into his lungs.

"Calm down," said Lisa. "Let me see."

Doctor Eight propped himself up on his elbows and tried to stay still while Lisa activated her x-ray vision, but it wasn't easy. It was getting increasingly harder to breathe.

Lisa gasped at what she saw: Coating his windpipe down by his lungs was a glowing, greenish substance. When she zoomed in on it, she saw that it was spreading and blocking the oxygen from getting into his lungs. If something wasn't done, he'd suffocate.

"Doctor, open your shirt and give me your hand!" she cried, tearing the flaps from her shirt that hid her gills while Doctor Eight opened his shirt. Lisa could even see the glowing stuff through his skin.

He took her hand and, with her other, Lisa traced her finger from his forehead along his nose, over his lips, down his throat, to his chest, and finally placed her palm where his lungs and his windpipe met, right where the green was. Both of her hands glowed with a bluish light.

She inhaled with her gills and sent the air through the link into Doctor Eight's lungs. Lisa then sent a telepathic message to Doctor Five: _Doctor, if you're strong enough, come to the next room to the left of yours. Quickly!_

Doctor Five did come, but it took him a few minutes. He saw Lisa's glowing hands and asked, "What is it?"

Lisa shut her eyes and separated her gills from her lungs so she could speak. Her gills took in the oxygen and passed it to Doctor Eight while her lungs took in oxygen for herself. She took her hand from the Doctor's chest, leaving a glowing blue handprint. Her hand, the one that had been on his chest, stopped glowing. The green stuff was still visible underneath the handprint.

"Something's inside him cutting off his breathing," she said finally. "Sit down, let me look at you."

Doctor Five sat down opposite Lisa, looking with some concern at his future self. Lisa used her x-ray vision to view his lungs. There was no trace of the green stuff.

Lisa frowned. "Weird. Unless…unless it…" She shook her head. "We have to get Medicus. He'll know what to do."

She couldn't stand up because she had to keep her contact with Doctor Eight, so she looked towards the window and used her telekinesis to open it. Then she called out in a neigh for Medicus, the medical unicorn. A whinny answered her back.

"He's coming." Lisa said.

Doctor Five winced. "Lisa, I'm very dizzy. Could I lie down?"

She nodded. "Go ahead. I'll call you if we need you. Can you make it?"

"If I keep my eyes closed," said Doctor Five. He stood and made his way out of the room.

Doctor Eight couldn't speak out loud because he couldn't draw a breath on his own, but he could still speak telepathically. _Lisa…__I'm…__I'm scared._

She put her hand to his face and stroked his cheek with her thumb. "I know. I am, too. I lost you once to spectrox toxaemia. I don't want to lose you to something like this." She gestured to the glowing blob of green on his chest. Or under his chest as the case may be.

Lisa leaned close and kissed him gently, but the sound of approaching hooves cut it short. There was a click and the wall with the window slid up and into a recess in the ceiling. Standing there was Medicus, the medical unicorn. His fur, horn, mane, and tail were white. His forelock and his beard were red and his hooves were silver. Hitched to him was a huge wooden cart filled with bottles and vials of liquid of all different colors.

"Took you long enough," said Lisa. "Medicus, he can't breathe. There's something inside him." She pushed his coat and shirt out of the way to show the unicorn the green blob. "When I x-rayed Doctor Five, there was nothing there."

Medicus unhitched his cart, left it outside, and stepped closer to Doctor Eight to take a better look. He snorted. "This is more serious than a case of the flu," he said, speaking English for Doctor Eight's benefit.

"You're the one who claims to know _everything and __anything about healing." Lisa said._

"Oh, I do," he defended. "It's just that he's going to need something stronger than my regular medications. To make a cure, I'll need a sample of what's inside him."

_How does he expect to get that? Doctor Eight asked._

"I can," Medicus answered. Judging Doctor Eight's reaction, both Lisa and Medicus figured that the Time Lord thought only Lisa could hear him.

"But," the unicorn continued, "you're going to have to relax and trust me."


	4. Part Four

**Disclaimer: I wish I could claim Doctors 5 and 8 as my own, but I can't. They belong to the BBC. Alien Lisa and Medicus, however, are mine. (SPECIAL NOTE: If you don't like stories in which the author writes herself in [even though Alien Lisa is only the me I want to be], please don't read. You have been warned.) **

_Part Four _

Doctor Eight looked to Lisa. She said, "It'll be okay."

He nodded. Medicus said, "Lisa, breathe normally for him until I tell you, then take a deep breath and hold it until I tell you to release it."

"Okay."

Medicus bent his head and pressed his horn to Doctor Eight's chest where the glowing green blob was. "Breath," he said to Lisa and she inhaled deeply with her gills. They could see Doctor Eight's lungs fill with air.

Doctor Eight had been fine up until then, but when Medicus started applying pressure to his chest, he started to get nervous. He used his free hand to reach under the unicorn's head and grasp Lisa's hand. He _did_ trust Medicus, but he had never seen him taking a sample of anything before.

Then Medicus's horn pierced his skin and drove into his flesh. Had his lungs been his own, Doctor Eight would have cried out in pain. That didn't stop him from doing it telepathically, however.

Lisa, sensing his panic, put a damper on his thoughts just in time. Only she heard his soundless cry of pain. She would have felt the horn, but she locked it out before Medicus had done it. She only felt the impact, none of the pain.

_Make it stop!_ he cried. _Make it stop! Please! _

Medicus ignored him, partly because he had to concentrate, mostly because he couldn't hear him.

Lisa squeezed his hand. "Shh, shh, shh. Relax, Doctor, relax! This won't work if you're panicking!"

_But it hurts!_ Doctor Eight cried, tears streaming down his cheeks. _Take it out!_

At last, after what seemed like hours but what had really been a minute, Medicus removed his horn from Doctor Eight's chest. It was bloodless, as was Doctor Eight's chest, but there on the tip of the horn was some of the glowing green stuff and also what looked like uninfected tissue. "Breathe slowly for him, Lisa," he instructed. "Deep breaths to calm him." He turned to his cart.

Lisa did as she was told. Doctor Eight's hearts were hammering so hard she could hear them; she could feel it as well, as her hearts and his always beat in unison. She took him into her arms and held him as best she could while keeping her contact.

"Shh, it's okay," she soothed him, stroking his hair.

_Okay? He_…_he_…

"Took a sample," Medicus finished even though it probably wasn't the sentence Doctor Eight was going for. He heard him now, since Lisa took down the thought damper. "I'm sorry it hurt, but it was necessary. Unfortunately, I have to do it again." He turned to look at Doctor Eight. "To your previous self. I need uninfected tissue. Lisa, would you call him?"

"Sure." _Doctor, could you come into Doctor Eight's room? Medicus needs you._

_I don't think he'll do any better,_ commented Doctor Eight.

"We'll see," Lisa answered. "But, Medicus, why take tissue from him? They may be the same person, but two different bodies. And it looks like you already took the uninfected tissue."

"For my purposes, there's no difference. The sample I took was to compare."

Doctor Five walked in. He was still exhausted. He saw Lisa holding his future self and eyed everyone curiously. "Yes?" he asked.

"I need your help, Doctor," Medicus said gently. "Sit down, please."

Doctor Five sat down beside Lisa and asked Doctor Eight, "What's the matter?"

_It hurts,_ he said, pressing a hand to his chest.

Lisa shot him a look he couldn't see, as he was facing away from her, then told Doctor Five, "Medicus needs a tissue sample from you. It's painful, I'm afraid."

"That can't be helped," the unicorn said. "I do have something for the pain, though." He levitated a vial of yellow liquid to Doctor Eight. "Drink that." He did, then Lisa put the vial on the night table.

"Could you give me something for this dizziness?" Doctor Five asked.

Medicus nodded. "I'll need the tissue sample."

Doctor Five nodded and Medicus told him what he had to do. Doctor Eight had the advantage of Lisa breathing for him. Doctor Five had to make sure he didn't draw a sharp breath or let one out while Medicus's horn was inside him, and because she hadn't been linked to him for thirteen years, Lisa could not breathe for him.

Medicus had Doctor Five open his shirt so he had a clear way to his chest. The unicorn pressed his horn where the green stuff would be located had it been there. "Breath," Medicus said, and Doctor Five took in a deep breath.

The unicorn thrust his horn into Doctor Five's chest. He winced, but didn't cry out. Doctor Eight flinched and looked away.

Medicus removed his horn after a minute. "Take deep breaths," he instructed. There was a bit of windpipe/lung tissue on his horn. He went to his cart and began working. Lisa couldn't see what he was doing.

Lisa reached over and took Doctor Five's hand. "Are you okay?"

"Perfectly all right," he responded, rubbing his chest. The only evidence of what happened was a small scar the size of the diameter of Medicus's horn, and even that would fade in time.

"You'd say that if you were just about to faint," Lisa commented, which was true. It had happened once before.

_Why did taking my sample take longer than taking his?_ Doctor Eight asked.

Lisa groaned. "Because he took two samples. Now calm down."

Medicus said, "I'm going to have to do a little research to develop this cure, and I'm short on supplies."

Now it was Lisa's turn to panic. "What?! Medicus!"

The unicorn winced. He hated it when she yelled. Especially at him. "Sorry, Lisa, but I _had_ planned on getting more ingredients today."

Lisa put her hand to her head. "All right, all right. How long is it going to take?"

Medicus tipped his head to one side. "Hard to say. At least a day. At most…" He left the sentence hanging, and Lisa didn't want him to finish it anyway.

"Medicus, I can't keep breathing for him forever. That's dangerous."

"Why?" asked Doctor Five.

"If his body gets used to it, then he won't be able to breathe for himself," Medicus explained. "It's like a dependency."

"I'll be as quick as I can. In the meantime…" He levitated a vial of orange liquid to Doctor Five. "This is for the dizziness until I can make a better version." He levitated two vials of green liquid to Lisa. "That's for the pain I caused. I'm sorry."

Medicus went to his cart and hitched it to himself. He stopped in the doorway – or, rather, wall-way – and said, "I'll be as quick as I can, but you don't want me making mistakes, now, do you?"

All three shook their heads.

"I didn't think so." The unicorn turned on his heels and galloped away.


	5. Part Five

**Disclaimer: Doctors 5 and 8 aren't mine. They belong to the BBC. Alien Lisa, Medicus, and Fluffy belong to me. Magic and Scorch are the Beanie Babies, so they belong to TY. (SPECIAL NOTE: If you don't like stories in which the author writes herself in [even though Alien Lisa is only the me I want to be], please don't read. You have been warned.) **

_Part Five _

Three long days later, Medicus had sent a message with Magic and Scorch, two small dragons who Lisa had befriended many years ago. They often hung around Medicus for some reason or another. No one ever really asked.

The message was that the cure was coming along well and would be ready within the next few days. Unfortunately, and Lisa told Magic and Scorch to tell Medicus this, the green stuff was spreading. It was now completely blocking Doctor Eight's airways. He couldn't draw a breath even if he wanted to.

Lisa had moved both Doctors into a room with two beds so she could keep an eye on both of them at the same time. Both were asleep, but the Fifth Doctor was sleeping better than the Eighth. After all, he didn't have anything growing inside his windpipe.

Lisa couldn't sleep even though she had barely gotten any since this whole mess started. She was too worried to sleep. She had been keeping an eye on the glowing blob underneath Doctor Eight's skin. She was afraid it would spread into his lungs, in which case breathing for him wouldn't do much good.

She was lying beside Doctor Eight, holding him because he felt safe in her arms and he would sleep better if he felt that way. Well, more often than not. Having stuff growing in his lungs didn't help at all.

Glancing at the clock, she noticed that only an hour had passed since she sent the two dragons to deliver the message to Medicus.

"Time flies when you're having fun," she muttered grimly.

**_"What's up?"_** a voice asked, making Lisa jump a full three inches.

She looked over the edge of the bed and saw a female black-and-white shorthair cat sitting there.

"Fluffy!" Lisa said _sotto voce_ as to not wake either of the sleeping Time Lords. "Where have _you_ been?"

The cat jumped up onto the bed with a fluid-like grace. **_"I was sleeping under your bed. I didn't hear you arrive."_**

Fluffy was speaking in the cat language, one Lisa understood perfectly, as she could all languages. The cat looked from one Time Lord to the other and blinked her greenish-yellow eyes. **_"Um…Lisa? I thought there was some rule or another against more than one of them being at the same place at the same time."_** She knew them from Lisa having to bring them here before.

"There is. The First Law of Time, but that never stopped the Doctor."

Fluffy crawled over Lisa's legs to get a good look at Doctor Eight. He was lying on his side with an arm around her waist, holding her tight even in his sleep.

**_"Eight and Five. Looks like you got your two favorites together, Lisa."_**

She laughed bitterly. "I wish it was under better circumstances." Very gently, she shifted Doctor Eight so he was lying on his back. Then she pushed his coat, shirt, and vest out of the way.

**_"Oh, my!"_** cried Fluffy when she saw the green outline of his windpipe under the blue handprint. She touched the area with her paw. **_"What is it?"_**

"I have no idea. Medicus is researching and trying to make a cure. Whatever it is, it's cutting off his breathing. I have to breathe for him. I've been doing that for almost four days."

**_"How much longer could you keep that up?"_**

"Indefinitely, if I had to. But it's not a good idea. If he gets a dependency on it, he'll never be able to breathe for himself again." She held up her still-glowing hand holding Doctor Eight's. "It'd be easier to keep it up if I didn't have to keep this contact."

**_"What's Medicus doing now?"_**

"Trying to make a cure."

**_"Is the other one affected, too?"_**

Lisa shook her head. "No, and that's the strange thing, because he was the one who was attacked."

**_"How?" _**

"I don't know. I wasn't there." She paused, then said. "Heh, come to think of it, I _was_ there. Weird that I don't remember anything. That's time travel for you. But he said something about being shot with an energy beam."

**_"What are you going to do?"_**

"Get them better, then travel with Doctor Five to help get this mess sorted out. Stop whoever shot him. Find a real antidote."

**_"You have a problem there, you know."_** Fluffy said, wrapping her tail around her paws.

Lisa frowned. "Oh?"

**_"You came here because…"_**

"The Doctor…this one," she patted Doctor Eight's arm, "passed out."

**_"Because of what the other one was shot with, right?" _**

"Yeah, I guess so. I still don't see your point. And he's the Fifth Doctor, not 'the other one'."

**_"Sorry. But, if there IS an antidote, you can't give it to the Fifth Doctor, otherwise the Eighth won't be affected, you won't come here, and this whole chain of events won't be set in motion."_**

Lisa thought about that for a moment, then realized her cat was right. "When did you get so smart?" she asked.

Fluffy's whiskers twitched. She seemed to smile. **_"Natural brilliance."_**

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right! I'm gonna have to tell the Doctor this when he wakes up."

**_"Fifth or Eighth?"_**

"Both, but Fifth first."

"Tell me what?"

This time, Lisa jumped six inches. She didn't know he'd woken up. That was annoying, because when she was linked to him, she could always tell.

"Sorry, Doctor," Lisa said to him. "Did I wake you?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm a little dehydrated. That's what woke me up. Tell me what?"

"That if there is a true antidote to the green stuff inside Doctor Eight, you can't have it because then everything we've experienced wouldn't've happened. Sometimes I hate time travel. Stupid paradoxes."

"If it weren't for time travel, you'd never have met me," said Doctor Five.

This made Lisa wince. "Point. You're right. Um, you can get a drink in the kitchen."

"Thank you." He stood up, took a moment to steady himself against the wall, then made his way out of the room and down the hallway.

"Am I interrupting something?" said a voice from the window.

Lisa turned. "Medicus! _Please_ tell me you have good news!"

The unicorn tilted his head from side to side in a "sort of" gesture. "The good news is that I have a cure for Doctor Five's dizziness. The bad news is that I still need another few hours for the cure for the fungus inside Doctor Eight. Hi, Fluffy," he added, seeing the cat sitting on the bed for the first time.

"Fungus?"

**_"Fungus?"_**

_Fungus?_

Doctor Eight chose that time to awaken. He stared, glassy eyed, at the unicorn in the window.

Medicus nodded. "That energy beam contained spores of a fungus that needs living tissue to grow. It especially likes the tissue of the windpipe, which is why it hasn't touched his lungs yet. But after it covers his entire windpipe, it will start there."

Lisa said, "If that happens, I won't be able to breathe for him!"

The unicorn nodded again. "Yes, Lisa, I know." He stepped away from the window. There was a click and the wall slid up into the recess in the ceiling. "Let me see how far it's progressed. Sit up, Doctor."

He did, not without some difficulty, and pushed aside his coat, shirt, and vest. The fungus covered about half his windpipe. Fortunately, it had not started on his lungs yet.

"I'd say, judging on its rate of growth, that it will take about a week to start on his lungs. I should have the medication done by then."

"Should?" echoed Doctor Five, who just walked in carrying a glass of water. "I heard most of what you were saying."

"No one is perfect, Doctor," said Medicus. "Even me. But I promise to have it done before things get even more serious than they already are. Like Lisa, I do not make promises I can't keep and I _never_ break the promises I _do_ make. But you're looking better."

"That's good, because I don't feel it." He set the glass on the nightstand, then sat down on the edge of his bed, rubbing his forehead with his fingers. "I'm still dizzy."

"Well, at least I bring relief to someone." In levitated a vial of red liquid striped with white. "Drink that. The dizziness should go away in about an hour."

While Doctor Five drank the medication, Lisa said, "Medicus, we need that cure. We have to go back to where Doctor Five was and get a real antidote, but we can't do it if I'm breathing for Doctor Eight."

"Yes, Lisa, I know," he said again. "Though hopefully with my cure, the real antidote won't be necessary."

It would if anyone else got shot with that beam, said Fluffy. She had switched to thought-speak so the Doctors could understand her. Her vocal chords weren't capable of forming words in the language of humanoids.

"Yes, you're right," said Medicus.

See? said Fluffy. Natural brilliance.

"All right," said Lisa. "Medicus, go back and do whatever it is you do to make your cures. But be as quick as you can. I don't know how long it takes for a dependency to build up when doing this."

"Oh, I think that takes at least a month."

"I don't want to take a chance."

"Understandable." He turned, pressed something with his back hoof, and galloped away as the wall came down into place.

Lisa sighed and said to the Time Lord at her side, "Doctor, after this is done, we're taking a vacation."


	6. Part Six

**Disclaimer: How I wish the Doctors were mine, but they belong to the BBC. Alien Lisa, Medicus, and Fluffy are mine. (SPECIAL NOTE: If you don't like stories in which the author writes herself in [even though Alien Lisa is only the me I want to be], please don't read. You have been warned.) **

_Part Six _

A vacation that would, at the moment, have to wait. That night, both Doctors were asleep and Lisa had finally dozed off. Fluffy was curled up at the foot of Doctor Five's bed.

Lisa's sleep was a light one, because she was still worried about her Doctor. Just the simplest noises awakened her. There was something tapping on the window, and when she opened her eyes to look she saw Medicus's horn glowing in the darkness.

_I did it,_ he said in her mind. _I made the cure. Ahead of schedule,_ he added rather proudly.

That woke her up completely. She was about to wake the Doctor at her side when Medicus stopped her. _Don't wake him. Don't wake either one. You don't need to. This cure YOU have to take. _

_Why me?_ she asked.

_Because it has to be breathed in and he can't do that on his own. Put this on your gills and breathe it in until the canister is empty. It will enter his lungs and attack the fungus. _He levitated some sort of breathing apparatus through the open window. It had two tubes with little "masks" on each end connected to a container. _Breathe normally. It should take three to five minutes for the canister to empty. _

Lisa took it and attached the masks to her gills, then breathed in the air from them. It took five minutes, as Medicus said, for her to breathe in the entire thing. When the canister was empty, she levitated it back to Medicus.

_Now what?_ she asked.

_Now you wait. The medication should attack the fungus right away. Look and tell me if you see anything._

Luckily, Doctor Eight was asleep on his back, so Lisa didn't have to move him to see. All she had to do was move his coat, shirt, and vest out of the way. Her eyes widened as she saw the glowing fungus start to slowly disappear from his lungs up.

_It's disappearing! _

_Good. It should be gone or at least partially gone by morning. Either way, he should be able to breathe on his own then. _

_Thank you, Medicus. _

_Any time. Call me if anything goes wrong, which it shouldn't. _

Lisa waved to the unicorn and settled down beside Doctor Eight, finally at ease enough to sleep.

All four of them – the two Doctors, Lisa, and Fluffy – slept through until the next afternoon. Lisa and Doctor Eight were the first to wake.

She smiled at him. "Medicus made the cure, Doctor. He brought it last night. This time I had to take it because it had to be breathed in. Let me see."

Doctor Eight sat up and looked down at his chest while Lisa pushed aside his vest, coat, and shirt. The fungus was gone, and, though there were small traces of it clinging to his windpipe, Lisa could see them starting to disappear as well. His windpipe was now clear enough for him to breathe on his own.

They both exchanged a grin, then Lisa said, "You ready?"

He nodded, and Lisa repeated the motions she had done to open the link to his lungs – running her finger from his forehead, down his face and throat to his chest and placing her palm where his lungs and his windpipe met, right where the handprint was. Her hand on his chest glowed blue again and her other hand glowed more brightly. Lisa took a deep breath with her gills, then both glows disappeared altogether. The only thing left was faint traces of the green fungus and a faded, small circular scar from Medicus's horn.

Doctor Eight breathed out on his own, the first breath he had taken for almost a week. He took deep breaths, then grinned and buried himself in Lisa's arms, hugging her tight.

She stroked his hair. "It's okay, Doctor. It's okay. You're okay now."

"I was so scared," he whispered.

"I know, I know." This was a big deal to them both, because only in times of real crisis did the Doctor admit that he was frightened, and even then he only told Lisa. Usually.

"Come on, Doctor," said Lisa. "I think we both could use something to eat. You have to get your strength back."

Nodding, Doctor Eight crawled out of the bed and Lisa helped him out of the room, down the hall, and to the kitchen.

Settling him at the table, she said, "Let's see, we need something light. In the condition you've been in for the past week, we don't want to shock your stomach." She began searching the cabinets until she found two cans of chicken soup and a package of crackers. "I better get another out for Doctor Five. He probably needs something, too."

Something what?

Startled, Lisa dropped the package of crackers on the counter. She turned to see Fluffy sitting on a chair across from Doctor Eight. "That's it, I'm having those carpets ripped up. I can't hear anything smaller than a dog walking across them."

Fluffy laughed and even Doctor Eight chuckled, albeit weakly. The cat said, a giggle still in her thought-voice, Well, sorry, but that's not my fault.

Lisa grumbled and leaned against the counter. "Is he still asleep?"

When I left him he was. Do you need him awake?

She shook her head. "Let him sleep. Wait, never mind. He's coming. At least I could hear that."

Doctor Five walked in, his clothes and hair about as rumpled as Doctor Eight's. He didn't look quite as pale as he had when he first got there. He took a seat in an empty chair. It was then he noticed that Doctor Eight was breathing on his own. "Medicus," he said. "He made a cure?"

Doctor Eight nodded and opened his shirt. The fungus was almost gone. "A little strange to be breathing by myself. I haven't done it in four days."

"That's why it's so dangerous for it to go on so long," said Lisa. "Are you feeling any better, Doctor?" She looked pointedly at Doctor Five so he'd know he was the one she was directing the question to.

He nodded. "Dizziness is gone, and so is most of the pain. But something tells me I'm going to have to go through all this another time." He was eyeing his future self. "I'm still rather weak, but I think that has to do with sleeping for so long."

Lisa sighed. "Going through it again can't be helped. We don't want to cause a paradox, now do we? I think we all need breakfast." She glanced at a clock on the wall (digital; if you knew Lisa, then you knew why there wasn't an analog clock anywhere to be found in the whole house, and she wasn't one to tell). It read 1:05PM. "Make that lunch. And then we'll figure out where we have to go and what we have to do. The sooner everyone's back where they belong, the better."

The next hour was spent making and eating lunch. After that, and after Lisa had cleaned up, they sat around the living room discussing what was to be done. Both Doctors seemed stronger now that they had eaten.

"So what we'll do," Lisa was saying, "is at least try to show up as you're getting shot." She looked at Doctor Five. "We can't interfere with that, but we have to follow whoever shot you and get answers and a real antidote."

But if Medicus made a cure, why get another one? asked Fluffy.

"Because he still has a fever," Lisa said, pointing to her Doctor. She went over to Doctor Five and felt his forehead. "Yours seems to have broken, but we all know it'll shoot up in your future. We can't do anything about that otherwise we'll have a problem." She took that opportunity to stroke his hair, reminiscing, and even he wrapped his arms around her waist in a hug.

Doctor Eight didn't mind, because he knew how his other self felt. He also knew what he was going through, because the one thing he had wanted to do after his last regeneration was bury himself in Lisa's arms and not come out for a while. It didn't help that he barely remembered her at the time.

"Okay," said Lisa, still stroking Doctor Five's hair. "Let's wash up, you two change your clothes, and we'll get going."


	7. Part Seven

**Disclaimer: The Doctors, the TARDIS, Tegan, and Turlough are all the property of the BBC. If someone wants to give me Doctors 5 and 8, I'd gladly take 'em. Alien Lisa is mine. (SPECIAL NOTE: If you don't like stories in which the author writes herself in [even though Alien Lisa is only the me I want to be], please don't read. You have been warned.) **

_Part Seven _

Two hours later, Lisa and the two Doctors were ready to leave. Fluffy, of course, had no sense of adventure and was staying home. They didn't see her at all after they had changed. Lisa always kept extra sets of the Doctor's regular clothing in the closets and dressers in the rooms she let them use.

They had gone outside and were looking at the two TARDISes. Lisa asked, "Are we going to have to go separately?"

The two Doctors looked at each other, then Doctor Eight shook his head. "No. Temporal fission, remember? We'll merge the TARDISes."

It took three tries, but eventually Doctor Five got his TARDIS to materialize into Doctor Eight's. Doctor Eight and Lisa were waiting inside.

The moment Doctor Five exited, he looked about the surroundings. "Have you been redecorating?" he asked.

Lisa giggled. This Doctor was used to the plain white console room, not the huge one with furniture and Gothic redwood paneling, with new switches and new scanner. She said, vaguely, "Actually, yes." She didn't want to give away too much.

"It's bigger than _my_ console room!"

Doctor Eight nodded. "Would you give me a hand setting the coordinates?"

Lisa leaned against one of the iron support columns, watching her two Doctors work the controls. She was going to hate saying goodbye to the Fifth Doctor. He had always been her favorite – or her first favorite, as the Eighth Doctor was her second favorite – although it was bad form to say who your favorite Doctor was.

In minutes they were on their way. Doctor Five didn't know how long it would take to get there, because he was unconscious on the journey to Alnilam.

Lisa was snacking on jelly babies when the time rotor ceased its movements. They had landed. Whether or not it was the planet they were aiming for…well, that was another matter.

Doctor Eight activated the scanner. The TARDIS seemed to have landed within some caves. A nod from Doctor Five told them that they were, indeed, where they should be.

"The caves where I was shot are right around there," he said, pointing to a tunnel on the scanner. "We should be coming around there in a few minutes."

"All right." Lisa said. "Let's go."

Lisa and the two Doctor left the TARDIS. On their way out, Lisa made all three of them, and the TARDIS, invisible so they wouldn't be noticed. She heard footsteps and voices coming around the corner, so she pulled the two Time Lords into an alcove to be safe.

They watched as four people came around the corner. Two of them were Doctor Five and Lisa of this time, and the other two were Tegan Jovanka, an Australian air stewardess who had accidentally walked into the TARDIS on a roadway on Earth, and Turlough, who had been under the influence of the Black Guardian who wanted him to kill the Doctor.

**_To be continued…eventually _**


End file.
